Blanking machines have been developed to sever a large roll of metal sheet into several smaller flat sheets. Typically, the severed sheets are urged to a stacking mechanism that guides and stacks the sheets on a pallet disposed below the stacking mechanism.
The conventional pallet configuration is often a rectangular shaped pallet having a fixed-sized area for receiving metal sheets that have substantially the same size as the pallet. A drawback with this pallet configuration is that the area of the pallet for receiving sheets cannot be adjusted. As a result, when metal sheets having a plurality of different sizes are received, a plurality of pallets having different sizes are utilized for holding the sheets thereon.
For example, and referring to FIGS. 20-22, a special chain conveyor 1 has a plurality of 2×4s or other equivalent members 2 positioned in a transverse direction to the chains, thereafter a plurality of specially cut base members 3 are placed on the chain conveyor in a transverse direction to the 2×4s. The base members are configured to be received within the side guides 4 of the stacker. The base members are also configured to allow dividers 5 to pass therethrough when the base members are raised in between the side guides. Since the whole structure (2×4s and base members) is moved to the stacker center by the chain conveyor and/or other mechanical devices. The movement of this structure causes the base members to move and therefore their alignment to each other and ultimately the dividers is changed as they are not secured to each other and therefore they must be replaced to an orientation that aligns the base members up with the dividers of the stacking system such that when the pallet is lifted up towards the dividers, the same are allowed to pass between studs or extended members 6 of the base member comprising the pallet. These extended members are required to be placed between the dividers and side guides so that the base member and 2×4s are positioned to receive the cut pieces of metal 7 passing through the dividers.
As can be seen in FIGS. 20-22, the width of the placement of the dividers corresponds to the width of the metal being cut, which in turn requires the extended members or studs of the base members to be orientated as in FIG. 20 such that the extended members can pass between the dividers and the side guides of the stacker. Since the chain conveyor is raised up by a scissor lift or other equivalent device, a miss-alignment of just one of the base members may cause one of the studs to contact one of the side guides or dividers causing the operator to lower the lift and realign the base members in order to have the desired position illustrated in FIG. 20. This continuous alignment of base member adds time and cost to the stacking process. Moreover, and should one of the studs contact the divider this contact may bend or break the divider.
In addition, and as the width of the metal members varies so does the placement of the dividers (e.g., dividers are adjustable within side guides). Accordingly, various placements of the dividers are capable for multiple sized orders. In order to compensate for these various sized orders the configuration of the base members and the stud placement must also vary thus, a great amount of differently sized base members is required for use with a stacker system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a pallet or skid for use with a stacker system wherein the receiving area is capable of receiving loads of varying sizes from a stacking system.